Time Flies!

Wow, has it really been three months since my last post? Jeannette and I have been busy moving in to our new home and trying to get the other house ready to rent/sell. Assuming this house doesn't fall in some kind of plague like event, I never want to move again! One of the good things about moving every couple of years has been the inevitable "cleaning house" - going through the old stuff and asking yourself if you really need something you haven't used in the last couple of years. Extend that to 8 years and you really find some nice stuff! Goodwill was our friend this Fall.

So we are in our new home and loving it. The initial move was somewhat orderly since we didn't really need to get out of the other house too quickly. I think we are pretty well settled in the new house now. I am still putting pictures up, and we have a fence and deck to put in. That stuff can wait until the Spring, though. We don't have a pet (except Danny) and fencing the yard isn't essential, yet. It has been nice seeing a few other families move in to the neighborhood. We now have neighbors on both sides of us. The builders are even picking up the pace now and we have several new homes in various stages of construction on our street.

Looking down our new street. We now have two sets of neighbors and several other houses nearing completion. 

Looking out the back of our house after several days of rain. Who knew we would have waterfront property?

I actually put up our decorations right after Thanksgiving this year. You have to take advantage of the few dry days around here this time of year. We actually have room to put the Christmas tree up in the living room now.

The tree fits in the living room now!

Melissa and Stephanie came home for Thanksgiving, and Melissa brought her cat. The cat has an interesting story. Melissa's roommate found it in the hills while hiking after dark. It is a jet black cat. I have to admit it was very well behaved and took to the house like it owned it. The trip home was eventful for both girls. Stephanie's normal method of travel - Amtrak - was victimized by heavy rains the week before Thanksgiving and they wound up using a bus to get folks down from Bellingham. Melissa needed a ride and so I went over to Seattle to pick her and the cat up. Everything went great until the 2+ hour wait for the ferry. Bummer!

Waiting in line for 2+ hours for a ferry ride home. No other travel method was any better.

Midnight quickly found his favorite spot on a cool fall day :)

Monkey bread was a perfect way to start Thanksgiving overeating :)

Other fun stuff over the last several months - I was promoted to Commander (finally!), we attended a Carrie Underwood concert in Seattle, we listed our old house for sale (unsuccessful so far). It has been a busy year.

The Space Needle as a backdrop to Fisher Plaza in Seattle. Beautiful evening to see Carrie Underwood!

Jeannette, Melissa and Danny were able to join me for my promotion to Commander.